Method of sewing a golf bag



Oct. 31, 1967 M. KISH, JR

METHOD OF SEWING A GOLF BAG 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 5, 1965 m m m Oct. 31, 1967 M. KISH, JR 3,349,737 I I METHOD OF SEWING A GOLF BAG Filed May 5, 1965 2 SheetsSheet 2 United States Patent 3,349,737 METHGD 0F SEWING A GOLF BAG Michael Kish, .lr., Higintstown, N.J., assignor to Atlantic Products Corporation, Trenton, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed May 5, 1965, Ser. No. 453,295 3 'Claims. (Cl. 112-262) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A golf bag structure in which the golf bag body is formed of a relatively flexible but self-supporting body material which does not require reinforcing wire stays to hold the golf bag tube rigid. The bag is formed from a rectangular sheet of such material which is bunched beneath a sewing material head to have a pocket member sewn to a central portion thereof, and a handle member sewn to a second central portion thereof which overlaps the pocket portion. The flexible rectangular sheet may be initially covered with a decorative layer.

This invention relates to a novel golf bag structure, and more specifically relates to a method of sewing a novel golf bag construction which is sufliciently rigid to be selfsupporting without the need for reinforcing wire stays, while permitting manufacture of the golf bag in the flat with standard sewing equipment.

In my US. Patent No. 3,147,786, entitled, Golf Bag Construction, assigned to the assignce of the present invention, I described therein the manner in which prior art type golf bags are constructed where the main tubular body of the bag has very little rigidity, thereby requiring the use of elongated Wire stays to impart rigidity to the bag so that the bag can be self-supporting. In my US. patent, I disclosed a construction for permitting the elimination of such wire stays by inserting a pre-formed tube into the golf bag and thereafter sewing the tube to the golf bag body and cuffs.

The present invention represents an improvement of my above noted patent, and provides a novel golf bag structure which permits the use of simplified manufacturing techniques while still achieving the desired results achieved in my above noted patent of a self-supporting bag and the elimination of wire stays.

The present invention, however, has the additional advantages over the structure of my above noted patent of simplifying manufacturing techniques and forming a bag which, while being relatively flexible, is self-supporting and, if distorted out of shape, will automatically spring back into shape.

More particularly, and in accordance with the invention, the main body of the bag is formed of a material having springy characteristics where these springy characteristics are characterized in that a tube of the material will be sufiiciently rigid to be self-supporting, and further if this material is distorted out of its generally tubular shape, it will automatically return to its tubular shape.

Thus, in accordance with the invention, a flat sheet of springy material is used as the base for receiving the various accouterments which are needed in the usual golf bag construction. By way of example, and While flat, the fiat springy sheet may have sewn thereto a golf bag pocket, a golf bag handle, and portions of the upper and lower golf bag cuffs. Thereafter, and by virtue of the resilient characteristics of the material, it is formed into a tube and sewn along the adjoining seam to retain the tube shape. Thereafter, the upper and lower cutfs may be finished in the usual manner with all sewing operations on the fiat sheet being made independent of the need for skipping those areas in which the prior art Wire stays had been previously located. Thus, the invention provides all of the advantages set forth in my above noted patent, but further permits the formation of the major portion of the bag construction in the flat.

A large group of materials can provide the springy characteristic required of the base sheet which forms the main body of the bag in accordance with the invention. By way of example, thermoplastic materials such as polyethylene or polypropylene sheets or vinyl sheets, or the like, having a general thickness of the order of 10 mils have been found to serve as satisfactory base materials.

Such materials, however, are not easily crumpled or bunched up to permit access to the center of the sheet for sewing operations in sewing on pockets and other panels, and the like. Other materials, however, serve the purpose of having the springy characteristics required, while furthcr being capable of being bunched up to pass beneath the arm of sewing machines and thereafter automatically springing back into shape. A preferred type of material having this characteristic is a non-Woven fabric made of cross-laid fibers of nylon, acetate, and other synthetic fibers held firmly and permanently in place by suitable bonding agents. Such material is known by the trademark Pellon which is a trademark of the Pellon Corporation.

Satisfactory results have been obtained by forming the base sheet of Pellon having a thickness of the order of and in particular, good results have been obtained using Pellon Type No. 1246 material. When using Pellon as the base layer, as described above, it is possible to cement or otherwise secure an outer decorative vinyl film to the Pellon surface which defines the outside of the golf bag tube. Alternatively, this material is capable of being printed or suitably colored so that such films are not necessary in a less expensive golf bag construction.

Moreover, and in view of the self-supporting nature of the material contemplated for use as the base of the golf bag tube, it is also found that the upper cuff portion normally fastened to such a base material can be eliminated since the material has suiiicient inherent rigidness to serve directly as the golf bag opening, it only being necessary to add further decorative trim to the open mouth of the tube.

When using a springy base layer of the type contemplated by the invention, further advantages have been found in the manufacture of the bag during the sewing operation. More particularly, the operator can bunch the material in such a way as to obtain intimate contact between the base and the component being sewn to the base layer. This is contrasted to the prior art: use of extremely loose materials which tend to fall away from the article being sewn thereto.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide a novel self-supporting golf bag construction.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel golf bag construction which is self-supporting and eliminates the need for wire stays.

Yet a further object of this invention is to provide a. novel self-supporting golf bag structure which has a resilient body which springs back to its original tubular shape after a distortion thereof.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel golf bag construction which lends itself to simplified manufacturing techniques.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front plan view of a base sheet of material with which the manufacturing operation for producing the novel article of the invention is begun.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of FIGURE 1 as seen from the left-hand side of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional section of FIGURE 2 to illustrate the manner in which the springy base material can have an outer decorative cover layer laminated thereto.

FIGURE 4 illustrates the first manufacturing step in producing the novel golf bag of the invention wherein a pocket is sewn to the base sheet of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a side view of FIGURE 4 as seen from the left-hand side of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the arrangement of FIGURE 4 after a handle is sewn to the base sheet.

FIGURE 7 is a side view of FIGURE 6 seen from the left-hand side of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 8 shows the next step in the manufacturing process wherein upper and lower cuff portions are connected to the assembly of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 9 is a side view of FIGURE 8 as seen from the lefthand side of FIGURE 8.

FIGURE 10 illustrates the manner in which the assemblage of FIGURE 8 is rolled into a tube and sewn along the abutting seam to form the golf bag shape.

FIGURE 11 is a top view of FIGURE 10.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, I have illustrated therein a base sheet which, in accordance with the invention, is of a material chanacterized as being a s-pringy material which, when rolled into a tube, is self-supporting.

To this end, and in describing the embodiment disclosed in FIGURES 1 through 11, the sheet 20 shall be considered to be of Pellon having a thickness of the order of Thus, the additional advantage of capability of being bunched and thereafter springing back to shape is available to simplify sewing operations and permitting the use of standard sewing equipment.

If desired, the outer surface of base 20 which eventually defines the outer surface of the golf bag tube can have laminated thereto a decorative vinyl layer 21, as shown in FIGURE 2. Alternatively, the outer surface of the Pellon base 20 may be printed in some suitable color.

The first step in producing the bag of the invention is illustrated in FIGURE 4 wherein a golf bag pocket 22, which could have a zipper 23 therein, is sewn to the base 20 along the stitch lines 24, 25, 26 and 27. It is to be noted that in a standard sewing machine, the length of the bridge of the sewing machine will normally be shorter than the distance from one edge of the Pellon sheet 20 to the farthest stitch lines 24 through 27. By forming the base material 20 of Pellon, it thereby becomes possible to bunch the material so that the stitch line will fall under the sewing head of the machine. This advantage proceeds throughout the manufacturing operation.

Thereafter, and as shown in FIGURE 6, a panel 28, which has a handle 29 riveted thereto by suitable rivet means and a buckle 30 riveted thereto by further suitable means, is sewn to the base layer 20 along the stitch lines 31, 32, 33 and 34. Note that the bottom of panel 28 overlies the top of pocket 22.

Thereafter, and as shown in FIGURE 8, a lower strip of a fiber material is sewn to the bottom of base 29 along the stitch line 41 and defines a portion of the lower cuff of the golf bag. The upper end of base 20 then has a fiber strip 42 sewn thereto along the stitch line 43 where the top of the fiber strip 43 conforms to the generally curved shape of the top of base sheet 20.

Prior to sewing the fiber strip 42 to the base 21, however, the fiber strip 43 is subassembled with a thin vinyl strip 44 which is sewn to the fiber strip 42 on the stitch line 45. It is to be noted that in the figures, the dimensions and particularly the thickness of the various layers has been exaggerated for purposes of clarity. Thus, the fiber strips 46 and 42 are relatively thick strips which could have a thickness of the order of The vinyl strip 44, however, is extremely thin, and its purpose is mainly a decorative purpose to finish the top of the bag.

Prior to the connection of fiber strips 40 and 42, finishing strips 46 and 47 can be sewn directly to the base layer 20 in overlapping relation with the longitudinal edges of panel 28 and pocket 22. Thus, strips 46 and 47 are sewn along stitch lines 28:: and 28b and stitch lines 49a and 4%, respectively. Note that in the prior art of techniques of manufacturing a golf bag construction, strips of the nature of strips 46 and 47 would have contained therein steel wire stays for the purpose of imparting rigidity to the bag. The presence of these stays complicated the sewing operation in sewing on the fiber strips 46 and 4-2 in that the operator had to skip the wire stay or break the needle. Therefore, the sewing operation consumed more time than the straight sewn seam would require, and the skipped stitch resulted in an unattractive appearance for the bag.

Thereafter, and as shown in FIGURE 2, the sheet 20, along with the elements sewn thereto, is rolled into a tube (by virtue of its resilient nature) and the ends of the tube are joined as by inner and outer finishing strips 50 and 51 which are sewn together through the opposing ends of base layer 20 along the stitch lines 52 and 53.

After the bag is for-med into the tubular shape of FIGURES 10 and 11, the strip 44 of FIGURE 8 is folded downwardly and sewn or otherwise secured to the interior of the open end of the bag, thus finishing the upper bag cuff. A suitable lower base 55 which encloses the bottom of the bag is then sewn to the bottom of the bag along stitch 56.

The resulting bag construction is, therefore, one which avoids the need for wire stays by virtue of the selfsupporting rigidity of the tube 2% Moreover, the entire bag can be bent double and will spring back to shape as soon as the bending force is released. In the prior art type bags using wire stays such action is impossible since the wire stays become permanently distorted.

As a further advantage of the invention, it is possible, when using finishing layers such as finishing vinyl layer 21 of FIGURE 3, to laminate the finishing layer directly to the main bag body. Therefore, unsightly wrinkles which commonly appear in presently used bags are avoided, since it is impossible for the finishing layer to move with respect to the main bag body.

As previously indicated, because of the self-supporting nature of the Pellon material, auxiliary cuff finishing means such as the fiber strip 42 and vinyl strip 44 could be eliminated from the bag construction for extremely inexpensive bags. Such an arrangement was heretofore impossible with bags having bodies which were not selfsupporting.

Although this invention has been described with respect to its preferred embodiments, it should be understood that many variations and modifications will now be obvious to those skilled in the art, and it is preferred, therefore, that the scope of the invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive privilege or property is claimed are defined as follows:

1. The method of manufacture for a golf bag which includes the steps of bunching a Hat springy, self-supporting generally rectangular sheet of material under a sewing machine, sewing a bag pocket over a first generally centrally located area of said sheet of material which extends across a line centrally disposed of and parallel to side edges of said sheet, rebunching said sheet of material and sewing a handle panel over a second generally centrally located area of said sheet of material which is displaced along said line and partly overlaps said first area, rolling said sheet into a self-supporting tube having opposing side edges of said sheet adjacent one another, and sewing said opposing edges to one another.

2. The method of manufacture for a golf bag which includes the steps of bunching a fiat springy, self-supporting generally rectangular sheet of material under a sewing machine, sewing a bag pocket over a first generally centrally located area of said sheet of material which extends across a line centrally disposed of and parallel to side edges of said sheet, re-bun-ching said sheet of material and sewing a handle panel over a second generally centrally located area of said sheet of material which is displaced along said line and partly overlaps said first area, sewing flat top cuff fiber means to the top edge of said sheet of material along a continuous sewn line, sewing flat bottom cufl? fiber means to the bottom edge of said sheet of material along a continuous sewn line, rolling said sheet into a self-supporting tube having opposing side edges of said sheet adjacent one another, and sewing said opposing edges to one another.

3. The method of claim 1 which includes the step of bonding a thin outer coating to the surface of said flat springy, self-supporting base material to produce a sheet of material having a finished outer surface before sewing said bag pocket and said handle panel to said sheet of material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 716,117 12/1902 Scott 112-214 1,279,428 9/1918 Pierce 1501.5 2,704,562 3/1955 Gordon 1501.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 254,609 5/1963 Australia.

OTHER REFERENCES Union Special Machine Co., The Needles Eye, February 1965, pp. 4041, copy in Group 365.

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. RICHARD J. SCANLAN, JR., Examiner. 

1. THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURE FOR A GOLF BAG HICH INCLUDES THE STEPS OF BUNCHING OF FLAT SPINGY, SELF-SUPPORTING GENERALLY RECTANGULAR SHEET OF MATERIAL UNDER A SEWING MACHINE, SEWING A BAG POCKET OVER A FIRST GENERALLY CENTRALLY LOCATED AREA OF SAID SHEET OF MATERIAL WHICH EXTENDS ACROSS A LINE CENTRALLY DISPOSED OF AND PARALLEL TO THE SIDE EDGES OF SAID SHEET, REBUNCHING SAID SHEET OF MATERIAL AND SEWING A HANDLE PANEL OVER A SECOND GENERALLY CENTRALLY LOCATED AREA OF SAID SHEET OF MATERIAL WHICH IS DISPLACED ALONG SAID LINE AND PARTLY OVERLAPS SAID FIRST AREA, ROLLING SAID SHEET INTO A SELF-SUPPORTING TUBE HAVING OPPOSING SIDE EDGES OF SAID SHEET ADJACENT ONE ANOTHER, AND SEWING SAID OPPOSING EDGES TO ONE ANOTHER. 